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The Battle of the Scheldt was fought in Oct 1944 between Allied forces from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Poland, and the German forces occupying territory in northern Belgium and the southwestern portion of The Netherlands during the North-West Europe campaign of the Second World War.

Situation

After the failure to clear many of the Channel Ports in Sep 1944, the need for port facilities north of Normandy grew acute; Allied supply lines were moving farther and farther away from Normandy, where most of their supplies were landing in Europe, resulting in very long supply runs by truck to the Allied armies. Antwerp had fallen with intact port facilities in Sep, however, the waterway leading to Antwerp, the Scheldt Estuary, was lined with German forces, and in particular heavy coastal batteries on Walcheren Island prevented any Allied supply ships from approaching the Scheldt in order to land supplies in Antwerp.

First Canadian Army was given the task, as the left-most of the Allied armies on the continent, of clearing the Scheldt Estuary.

Prelude

The fighting in the Battle of Normandy had caused extreme casualties among all the Allied armies between 6 Jun 1944 and the end of Aug. Fighting for the Channel Ports was less intense, but still costly, and as the Canadian Army headed into the Belgium, the need for reinforcements, particularly infantry reinforcements, began to reach crisis proportions.

The British Second Army had advanced into The Netherlands, and in a highly ambitious operation beginning on 17 Sep 1944, Operation MARKET-GARDEN established bridgeheads over several rivers including the Maas and Waal, and attempted to gain a bridgehead over the Rhine - the last major water barrier separating German territory from western Europe.

North-West Europe Campaign

Dieppe - Normandy - Channel Ports - Scheldt -
Nijmegen Salient - Rhineland - Final Phase

Battle of the Scheldt

Leopold Canal � Woensdrecht � Savojaards Plaat � Breskens Pocket � South Beveland � Walcheren Causeway � The Lower Maas

The fighting at Arnhem, on the Rhine, resulted in the destruction of the British 1st Airborne Division and exceedingly heavy losses when relief forces from British XXX Corps failed to reach them before heavy counter-attacks by SS armoured units threatened to annihilate them. (As an aside, several Canloan officers had been part of the 1st Airborne Division.)

Had MARKET-GARDEN been successful, it was conceivable that strong pushed into German territory before the end of 1944 might have resulted in a German capitulation. By 1 Oct 1944 it was apparent, however, that campaigning would probably extend into 1945, and so emphasis returned to clearing a major port. Antwerp had the second largest port facilities in Europe and over 45 kilometres of docks.

German Defences

German defences in the Scheldt region came under the command of LXVII Korps. The Germans had managed to solidify their defences after the panic of Sep 1944; had British forces thrust north from Antwerp immediately after its capture, they would have found the Scheldt poorly defended. Instead, Infanterie Division 70 had the opportunity to improve its defences on Walcheren Island.

To the south of the Scheldt, Infanterie Division 64 garrisoned the area that would later be known as the Breskens Pocket. This formation was ordered to defend the south bank of the Scheldt Estuary from Zeebrugge to Terneuzen.

Up until the liberation of Ossendrecht during the intial move north from Antwerp, the Canadians faced Infanterie Division 346, a low grade unit, as well as elements of Infanterie Division 85 and Kampfgruppe Chill.

Also on South Beveland were naval personnel of the 202nd Marine Artillery Battalion. During the battle, some remnants of Infanterie Division 64 managed to escape north to South Beveland as the Breskens Pocket was reduced.

Opening the Scheldt

Orders for clearing the Scheldt had been given before MARKET-GARDEN, on 12 Sep 1944. First Canadian Army, with II Canadian Corps under command, also had available the Polish 1st Armoured Division, British 49th (West Riding) Division and eventually the British 52nd (Lowland) Division.

The Battle of the Scheldt consisted of four phases

clearing the area north of Antwerp and the neck of the South Beveland peninsula (some of these actions are described in the articles on the Channel Ports.
clearing the so-called Breskens Pocket, north of the Leopold Canal and south of the Scheldt Estuary.
clearing the area north of the Scheldt Estuary, known as South Beveland .
clearing Walcheren Island, and its coastal batteries.

On 2 Oct 1944 the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division moved north from Antwerp to clear the neck of the South Beveland peninsula. German troops from Kampfgruppe Chill were strongly entrenched in Woensdrecht and Hoogerheide. Several days of bloody fighting beginning on 6 Oct 1944 failed to dislodge the Germans; terrain was open or flooded and heavily mined. On 13 Oct 1944, the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada was virtually destroyed launching an attack on a feature known as "the coffin" due to the shape it described on a map.

A final attack on Woensdrecht was launched on 16 Oct 1944 which finally pushed the Germans out of the neck of the Peninsula. Orders from 21 Army Group made opening the Scheldt a priority, and the 2nd British Army also attacked west from their positions to assist in clearing Dutch territory south of the Maas River, helping secure the Scheldt region from German intervention. The 8th Reconnaissance Regiment also liberated North Beveland.

The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division, previously fighting south of the Scheldt, moved past the 2nd Canadian Division, to the north, to liberate Bergen op Zoom. By 24 Oct 1944 German access to South Beveland had been completely cut off. The division paused in Bergen op Zoom before pushing eastwards to St. Philipsland, where it had the distinction of engaging German naval vessels in Zijpe harbour.

Operation SWITCHBACK

4th Canadian (Armoured) Division, divided into two battle groups, advanced from a hard-won bridgehead over the Ghent Canal at Moerbrugge to be faced with both the Leopold and D�rivation de la Lys Canals. An attack in the vicinity of Moerkerke on 14 Sep had managed to get the division across both these obstacles, but heavy German counterattacks led to loss of the bridgehead.

To the east, the 1st Polish Armoured Division had greater success moving northeast from Ghent over rough terrain and in the face of heavy resistance. They managed to reach the coast by 20 Sep, and occupied Terneuzen, from where they cleared the bank of the Scheldt all the way to Antwerp.

The area then defended by the Germans was known as the Breskens Pocket, which was strongly defended and extended along the bank of the Scheldt from Zeebrugge to the Braakman Inlet, then inland to the Leopold Canal.

The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, moving up from France and its assaults on the Channel Ports, set out to cross the Leopold Canal and redress the failure of the Algonquin Regiment to maintain a bridgehead. The attack opened immediately east of the junction of the Leopold and D�rivation de la Lys Canals, aimed at a narrow strip of dry ground beyond the Leopold which formed a long triangle based on the Maldegem-Aardenburg road and reaching a point near the village of Moershoofd 5000 yards to the east.

The 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade attacked on 6 Oct 1944 with flamethrowing Wasp carriers, while the 9th Brigade made an amphibious attack along the northern coast. The 7th Brigade managed two separate bridgeheads in the face of German counterattacks, and managed to consolidate the gains into one large bridgehead by 9 Oct. On the morning of 12 Oct the Canadians managed to cross the Aardenburg road.

The 9th Brigade, mounted in Terrapin and Buffalos of the British 5th Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers, crossed the mouth of the Braakman Inlet, landing near Hoofdplaat and thus putting pressure on both sides of the Breskens Pocket. In spite of a 24 hour delay in mounting the operation, tactical surprise was achieved and a bridgehead maintained in the face of counter-attacks. Infantry from the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division crossed the Leopold Canal towards the Isabella Polder, and the 8th Brigade of the 3rd Division moved south from the bank of the Scheldt, linking up with troops on the south end of the pocket and allowing the flow of supplies to the amphibious bridgehead on the bank of the Scheldt.

Sapper M.J. Barratt of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division's Royal Canadian Engineers sits amid rubble at the east end of the Leopold Canal on 16 October 1944. LAC Photo.

Fighting continued in the towns of Breskens, Oostburg, Zuidzande and Cadzand, and the fortifications at Fort Frederik Hendrik. Operation SWITCHBACK ended on 3 Nov 1944 with the final collapse of the Breskens Pocket and the liberation of Knokke and Zeebrugge. All land south of the Scheldt Estuary was in Allied hands.

Operation VITALITY

The movement down the South Beveland Peninsula began on 24 Oct 1944 when the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division advanced westward from their hard-earned gains at Woensdrecht. Mud, mines, and strong enemy resistance dashed hopes of a quick advance, and the Beveland Canal - bisecting the peninsula - proved to be a major obstacle which had to be defeated by an amphibious landing by the British 52nd (Lowland) Division. With British troops now behind the Canal, the 6th Canadian Brigade attacked the canal head on in assault boats, and engineers managed to establish a crossing on the main west-east road. Once positions on the Beveland Canal were cleared, German resistance on South Beveland collapsed and remnants of the German forces there withdrew to Walcheren Island.

Operation INFATUATE

The final phase of the Battle of the Scheldt was the clearing of Walcheren Island. Canadian attempts to reach the island were severely hampered by terrain. The only land approach was a 40 yard wide causeway over the Slooe Channel, known to the Dutch as the Sloedam, and to the Allied soldiers who fought there as the Walcheren Causeway. Several attempts to form a bridgehead on the Walcheren side of the Causeway between 31 Oct and 2 Nov 1944 were thrown back by German counter-attacks.

Defences on the Island itself were formidable, and heavy coastal batteries were located on the western and southern coasts, which were fortified against amphibious assault. A landward-facing defensive perimeter had been established at Vlissingen (Flushing), defending the port facilities there in the event of a successful Allied amphibious landing on the island.

Allied heavy bombers attacked Westkapelle on 3 Oct 1944 in an effort to flood portions of the island and hamper German defensive efforts. On 7 Oct, two areas near Vlissingen were bombed and on 11 Oct bombs fell on dykes at Veere. German defenders were forced onto high ground near the towns.

Three different attacks were launched on the island; the Canadians optimistically hoped to "bounce" the Causeway in a lightning move as they came from the east; British troops of the Special Service Brigade and 52nd Division planned amphibious operations from the south and west.

As the Canadians and later 52nd Division fought at the eastern end of the island at Walcheren Causeway, amphibious landings in two parts were launched The amphibious landings were conducted in two parts on 1 Nov. Operation INFATUATE I saw infantry of the British 155th Infantry Brigade and Number 4 Commando ferried across in small landing craft from Breskens, assaulting a beach in south-east Vlissingen. Heavy street-fighting ensued.

Operation INFATUATE II, also on 1 Nov, was a major amphibious landing at Westkapelle by the 4th Special Service Brigade, under heavy naval bombardment by the Royal Navy and supported by the 79th Armoured Division with its special purpose armoured engineer vehicles. This forces landing on both sides of a gap in the sea dyke and heavy fighting ensued at Westkapelle.

On 6 Nov 1944, Middelburg was finally liberated and all fighting on the island had ceased by 8 Nov, bringing the Battle of the Scheldt to a close.

On 28 Nov 1944, the first Allied supply convoy entered Antwerp after the Scheldt was swept for mines.

Aftermath

The month-long battle had been a severe test for the Canadian Army, and coupled with casualties in the Battle of Normandy and the battles for the Channel Ports, exacerbated a demand for infantry reinforcements which would lead to a full blown crisis in Canada regarding conscription.

The 3rd Canadian Division was dubbed the "Water Rats" by Field Marshal Montgomery, intended as a tribute to the horrible conditions of mud and water which the Canadians had fought through. (General Crerar disliked the nickname and dissuaded others from using it).

In the course of five weeks of fighting, First Canadian Army had taken 41,043 prisoners, and suffered 12,873 casualties (killed, wounded, or missing), 6,367 of whom were Canadian nationals, the remainder from British and Polish units under command.

Antwerp remained a significant location after the Scheldt; German V-2 rockets were launched against the city to disrupt the movement of Allied supplies, and in Dec 1944 the Ardennes Offensive was aimed at recapturing the port.

Battle Honours

The following Battle Honours were awarded for units participating in the Battle of the Scheldt:

The Scheldt
Leopold Canal
Woensdrecht
Savojaards Plaat
Breskens Pocket
South Beveland
Walcheren Causeway
The Lower Maas